Carmody and the Electric Dragon

Brackenridge Apartment, 10th District, Pan City

Saturday October 27th 2046

Carmody had always known that Angelina’s family had money. Lots of money. That knowledge had still not prepared her to discover that the Brackenridge apartment occupied the entire penthouse floor of the residential tower.

“So how many people are there in your family?” she asked Angelina when she had escorted her up from the lobby.

“Oh, just Mother, Father and myself” she had replied, ushering the girl into the reception room of their lavish apartment. A tall, dark haired man in a suit waited for them, nodding his head in greeting as they entered.

“Hi Hammers” Angelina greeted him airily, “This is my friend Carmody. She will be staying in the guest room as we discussed”

The man ran his eyes over Carmody from top to bottom, pausing to raise an eyebrow at the cricket bat slung over shoulder. He seemed undecided about her general appearance and Carmody fidgeted nervously under the stress of his regard.

“Shall I take the young Misses bags to her room, Miss Angelina?” he intoned in a seriously good British accent.

“Um, I can carry my own bags, if that is Okay, Mr Hammers?” she said sheepishly, looking steadfastly at the expensive wooden floor.

“The name is Hammerton, Miss Carmody” he told her. “Only Miss Angelina insists on calling me Hammers”

“Stop being so stuffy, Hammers!” Angelina said crossly. “Come on, Carmody, I’ll take you to your room”. Saying this she grabbed the overnight bag from Carmody’s hand and lead her at a quick pace through the apartment, pointing out rooms and features in a rapid monologue.

They finally arrived at a large, airy room that was half the size of the entire apartment that Carmody and her family lived in.

“This is the guest bedroom” Angelina announced as she flung the door open. “Sorry it is a little cramped but you do have a nice view over the city. You can even see the harbour from here”

Carmody looked around the large room, her eyes watering at the thought of how many Pandas the wooden furniture, lush carpet and elaborate four poster bed would cost to replace. There were framed paintings on the walls, vases with flowers on stands and adorning shelves, finely made figurines and statuettes sitting decoratively on desks and side tables.

One little mistake with her Kinetic Enhancer and she could bankrupt her family for years to come!

“Don’t be shy, come on in!” Angelina insisted, dropping the overnight bag on the huge bed and coming to stand in front of her friend.

“I can’t” Carmody whispered and stood rigidly on the spot, half in and half out of the doorway. Angelina looked at her friend and understanding flooded through her. She smiled and took her hands, gently leading Carmody to the centre of the room.

“When I first became Awakened, my ability was all over the place” she said softly. “Every little wave of my hand, every twitch of my fingers, I seemed to break stuff all the time. Mother and Father were furious at first, thinking I was doing it deliberately. Then they began to understand the problems I was having, so they got me my first tutor. After that I was breaking less things around the house, but it didn’t matter. My parents understood and forgave me anything that I broke”

“I’m just a guest, though” Carmody said to her friend. “And your stuff is way nicer than the things I break at home”

Angelina smiled warmly and stepped up close to her friend.

“They are only things, Carmody. How much they cost doesn’t matter to me. The only thing I care about is you don’t break your friendship with me. That is the only thing in this whole room that has any value”

“Thanks Angelina, I really appreciate that” Carmody said with a sniffle and wiped her nose with the back of her sleeve.

“You know, there is a whole box of tissues right there” Angelina said to her, pointing to an ornate dispenser on a dressing table.

=====

The orange hovered in the air between the two seated girls, then slowly one piece of the skin unpeeled itself, dropping to the table surface. A second piece tore itself from the fruit and landed in the same place as the first. Piece by piece the orange surrendered its outer layer, until only the juicy globe of flesh remained. With a deft flick of her hand, Angelina telekinetically propelled the peeled orange into Carmody’s waiting hand.

“That is amazing!” the girl cried, examining the fruit closely. “You didn’t even break one of the segments!”

Angelina smiled broadly, flashing her well maintained teeth.

“It is one of the first tricks I was taught by a tutor. Fine manipulation using Telekinesis is the best way to develop the skill. Anyone can do the big, violent moves with their Ability, but it is the delicate stuff that is actually the most useful”

“So, I should try to peel fruit with Excalibur?” Carmody asked, a little confused at the idea.

“Don’t be silly” Angelina laughed, hoping her friend was only joking. “What you need to do to get better at Kinetic Enhancement is try using it in small, controlled ways. Instead of using your bat, how about we try some exercises just using your fingers and toes?”

“Okay, I’m game” Carmody agreed and l laid her bat beside the table.

“Great, how about we start in the pool room?”

“Swimming? You have a pool in here?” said a shocked Carmody.

“No silly, that is on the roof. I meant a Pool table, like for playing Billiards”

After a quick break while the girls shared the peeled orange, Angelina led her friend through the main hall and into a side room slightly larger than the guest room. In pride of place was a full sized Pool table, with racks of cues, balls and other paraphernalia around the richly decorated walls.

Hammerton was waiting for them, having already set up the table for a game. He finished brushing some imaginary dust from the green felt surface and nodded to them both.

Thank you, Hammers” Angelina said to the butler. “Would you please prepare the afternoon tea for us? We shall take it on the sun deck once we are finished here”

“Of course, Miss Angelina” he intoned and walked sedately from the room, sparing a glance of disapproval at the denim shorts and cotton t-shirt that Carmody was wearing. She had changed into them expecting an afternoon of intense physical activity, but so far the most energetic thing she had done was to help Angelina carry some oranges.

Carmody approached the table and looked at the coloured and numbered balls set into a triangle at one end of the table. At the other end was a single white ball. She had seen films and stuff of people playing Pool but had never actually done it herself.

“So, you want me to practice hitting the balls with one of those sticks?” she asked, eyeing off the long wooden cues in their racks.

“Later” Angelina said. “For now we are going to try and go small rather than big”

“Huh?” replied the other girl.

It took a lot of tries, but in the end Carmody found what Angelina was trying to teach her really made sense. She started out just tapping the white ball lightly, as lightly as physically possible, while putting her power into the fingertip.

With the tiniest of taps from her fingertips, she was eventually sending the white ball flying across the table, smashing the coloured balls in all directions, even sinking a couple.

Then she graduated to more controlled shots, using her power to propel the white ball accurately into another one and sink it in the designated pocket.

By the time they broke for tea, Carmody already felt like she had mastered so much more of her Ability. At the end, she was just lightly touching the white ball and it flew with speed and accuracy right where she wanted it to go.

They sat on the sun deck, facing the vast expanse of Pan City laid out before them. It was a cloudy day, as often the case here, yet the late afternoon sun was pleasingly warm where it shone through the gaps. Towers glittered around them, scattered sunlight reflecting from the solar panels that covered their outer walls. In the distance they could make out huge ocean going vessels, plying to and from the vast harbour as they navigated their way past the hulking mass of the Fortress.

Carmody had put two lumps of sugar in her tea as usual and was playing with a third, propelling it around the silver serving tray with minute pulses of her power. Angelina was watching her friend with amusement over the lip of her own teacup, made of the finest porcelain of course.

“Our Abilities seem a lot closer in how they work than I had realised” said Carmody. “Makes sense in a way, since they both involve Kinetics” She glanced at her friend with an enquiring look on her face. “Do you always have to move your hands to use the Ability?” she asked.

“At my Grade, yes” Angelina answered. “It is easier to visualise how to move the objects if your hands make the same movements. All Telekinetics start out the same way. As you get better at the visualisation, you can use your hands less. I have seen the highest Grades do it all without moving a single muscle, but I am nowhere near that good”

“I hope I can progress to Grade Two real soon” Carmody said, leaning back and sipping at her tea with a contented feeling. The first training session had gone well and she felt her bond with Angelina growing so much deeper.

Her eyes drifted out over the expanse of sky, idly noting the helijets and VTOLs flying with purpose between the tall buildings. One large craft looked to be getting closer, the nose of the vehicle pointed right at them it seemed.

“The pilot must be asleep out there” she joked to Angelina, pointing her cup at the approaching flying craft. It did not appear to be veering away, still getting bigger in her eyes.

“Is there a landing pad on the rooftop?” Carmody asked Angelina. Her friend looked at the vehicle and a frown creased her forehead.

“There is a private pad for use of my family, but there is no-one scheduled to arrive today. My parents are in Indonesia this week for business and they are not due back until Monday”

Carmody felt a strange tingling in her body, like she was nervous or scared, but without the usual panic. She stood up suddenly, dropping her teacup with a clatter on the table.

“We need to get inside!” she yelled out and grabbed the startled Angelina by the arm, sending her own cup flying to the hard tiled floor. It shattered spectacularly, pieces of fine china mixing with warm tea across the expensive tiles.

They rushed inside, Carmody throwing the surprisingly heavy glass door shut behind them. It closed with a solid click just as the craft stopped in front of the sun deck, the jet wash from the engine pods hurling the tables and chairs over, flinging the silver tray and tea service in all directions.

It rotated sideways and a hatch slid open, revealing men in body armour and carrying guns. Carmody and Angelina backed away from the wall of glass windows that overlooked the sun deck, confusion and horror on both their faces.

The girls looked at each other and cried out in almost perfect unison.

“I am so sorry about this!”

They shared expressions of even deeper confusion.

“Huh?” said Carmody.

“What?” gasped Angelina.

Men were swarming over the sun deck, their guns pointed menacingly, hoods covering their faces. The first to reach the door tried to open it, seemed to curse then shot it with a burst of gunfire. Stars and cracks appeared in the glass but it held for now.

“Miss Angelina, please take your guest to the Safe Room” said Hammerton, appearing in the main room with a long barrelled shotgun and an armour vest over his suit. “I will deal with the intruders”

“There are too many, Hammers” the girl cried out. “We need to fall back and call the Guard”

“Sorry Miss, they have jammed the communications links and locked us out of the elevators. We are trapped here”

“So these guys aren’t working for the Emissary?” asked Carmody.

“Who?” replied Angelina, drawing Carmody behind a heavy padded lounge. “I rather think they are business rivals to my father”

Armoured glass shattered in a long line as the men used explosives to blast their way in. Carmody and Angelina huddled close to each other, whimpering as the boom of Hammerton’s shotgun echoed throughout the big space.

Carmody risked a peek from behind the lounge and saw maybe five men still standing, two of them grappling with the butler. Another three lay unmoving on the tiled floor and she quickly looked away from them.

Heavy booted feet sounded on the floor, approaching the girl’s hiding place. Carmody scanned around herself and saw her bat about five meters away, still leaning against the table where she had left it earlier.

A slim hand gripped her own, stopping her from charging out towards Excalibur.

“Don’t!” Angelina begged her. “It’s me they will be after, to use as a hostage. Don’t risk your life for me!”

Shouts and grunts could be heard in the other part of the room as Hammerton fought his assailants. Hearing his struggles made up her mind for her. There was no way a Dragon Slayer would let some simple thugs steal her best friend from her.

“I’m not letting them take you!” Carmody shouted and burst from behind the lounge.

“There she is!” yelled one of the men and ran towards her, his hand reaching to try and snare her. He was right on top of her when she reached Excalibur, his left hand tangling in her long hair.

She squealed in terror and swung the bat hard into his stomach. Like a scene from a cartoon the man released her hair and flew across the room, crashing into a glass fronted cabinet filled with antique crystal pieces. He collapsed to the floor as the priceless goblets and vases shattered and rained over his unconscious body.

A second man saw her and raised his gun in her direction. Carmody froze, knowing with a sinking feeling that she could not reach him in time. She felt time slow down as his finger closed on the trigger, then suddenly the gun jerked in his hand and shot his own foot.

He screamed and jumped backwards in terror, then gurgled and fell to the floor as his gun rotated in the air and smacked him hard across the head. Carmody looked at Angelina, standing up behind the lounge as she waved her hands in the air.

“Behind you!” she cried as the third man grabbed the girl roughly, snaring both her hands in an iron grip. Carmody went to rush forwards when the man placed his gun against Angelina’s head, keeping his other hand tightly over the girl’s.

“Everybody stop moving!” he shouted from behind his hood, angry wild eyes glaring at them all. Carmody stopped moving forwards and lowered her bat. In the corner of her eyes she could see Hammerton go still as well, his two former opponents lying on the floor.

Outside the aircraft was still hovering, the pilot watching the action anxiously. The man inside started pushing Angelina in front of him, heading to the broken windows, circling around Carmody and the butler.

“If you let her go, I won’t kill you” said Hammerton, all trace of his English accent gone. It was a voice that would freeze the blood of a Cobra, but the man just laughed.

“Make a move and I’ll kill the girl. Your boss won’t forgive you for that” he told them. With relentless strength he carried Angelina across the room. He was nearly at the windows, boots crunching on the glass fragments, when Carmody dropped her bat.

“Please mister!” she wailed, blubbing as hard as she could “Don’t take my friend!” She staggered across the tiles, shuffling her feet, trying to look as pathetic as she could. To be fair, she had a lot of practice at that and was remarkably convincing.

The man was uncertain what to do, she could see it in his eyes behind the hood he was wearing. Shooting other adults was one thing, but she could see his indecision about firing on a small, wailing girl.

Angelina was giving her wide eyed looks, trying to tell Carmody to turn around and run for it. She ignored her friend and covered the last steps to the hooded kidnapper.

“She’s my best friend in the whole world!” she sniffled, standing right next to the man.

“You need to find better friends!” he suddenly yelled and took the gun away from Angelina and pointed it at Carmody. He had seen through her charade.

“No thanks” she said and pushed her index finger into his chest as hard as she could.

The would-be kidnapper flew like a rocket away from her finger, propelled by all the force she could impart with her Kinetic Enhancer. He slammed into the railing around the sun deck and collapsed. At the sight of this, the pilot yanked his controls and the aircraft veered away, racing downwards and out of their sight.

“I think it’s over” she whispered, so softly only the girl next to her could hear.

Carmody was trembling all through her body as Angelina put her arms around her shoulders and led her away to the guest bedroom.

=====

Brentwood Apartment, 10th District, Pan City

“So what business are your parents in?” Carmody asked Angelina as they lay side by side in her narrow bed.

“Officially they are in Exports and Imports” answered Angelina, holding tight to her friend’s hand. “Basically they smuggle stuff in and out of Pan City” she admitted.

“I see” Carmody said without judgement. They were at Carmody’s apartment, the only place she felt safe enough to bring Angelina after the kidnapping attempt. Hammerton was still at Angelina’s apartment, going over things with the Guards and Police Auxiliary.

All of the attackers had survived, although some were badly injured. Hammerton was playing down the role the two girls had played in defeating the men, but at some point they would have to give statements.

“You were incredibly brave” Angelina told her friend. “It was the stupidest thing I have ever seen, but really brave”

“Yeah, well, I had Excalibur with me” Carmody joked and patted the bat where it lay on the blankets, close to her hands.

“No you didn’t” Angelina replied. “When you saved me, the bat was on the floor. That was all you, Carmody”

“Huh? I guess it was. I had a good teacher though”

“Yeah, I am pretty amazing too” Angelina agreed with a laugh. She sobered for a moment, then gripped her friend’s hand tighter.

“Carmody, when those men attacked, you thought they had been sent by someone else didn’t you? You thought they had come for you, not me”

“Maybe” she said quietly.

Angelina nodded her head, her ponytails brushing the pillow.

“Who is the Emissary?”